Neverland Ranch Takes Huge Price Cut: Michael Jackson’s Estate Can Be Yours For…

Neverland Ranch is back on the market, except it’s not called Neverland Ranch anymore. The famous California property formerly owned by late music icon Michael Jackson has been renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch, and it is listed for sale at $67 million, a bargain basement price compared to the previous asking price of $100 million.

Billboard posted a series of photos of the sprawling 2,700-acre property, which is located near Santa Barbara. In the listing description, realtor Joyce Rey touted the “rare and truly remarkable estate,” which includes “50 maintained acres surrounded by some four square miles of natural beauty running to the distant mountain ridge.”

“Structures of magnificent quality and comfortable luxury make this a singular residence designed for an extraordinary California ranch and naturalist lifestyle,” Rey wrote, before adding that the land has vineyard potential.

Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch is back on the market (see photos) https://t.co/oEZrYFahQi pic.twitter.com/MUU4yXYVwe

— billboard (@billboard) March 2, 2017

In addition to a six-bedroom, 12,000-square-foot main residence and a 3,700-square-foot pool house, the ranch includes nearly 20 other structures. While Jackson’s years at the famous property came complete with amusement park rides and wild animals, most of those whimsical features are long gone. But the ranch does still boast some light-hearted amenities, including a dance studio and a 50-seat movie theater that includes “a stage with trap doors” for magic shows.

According to MTV News, Jackson paid $17 million for the compound back in 1988. He quickly began construction of the massive, personal amusement park that included a roller coaster, Ferris wheel, and an arcade. Jackson’s zoo was home to a menagerie of elephants, giraffes, chimpanzees, crocodiles, snakes, and more. The “Thriller” singer took the name of his ranch from the fictional Peter Pan wonderland where children never age.

Jackson lived at Neverland Ranch for about 15 years, eventually selling it to Colony Capital for $22.5 million a few years before his death in 2009.

According to the Wall Street Journal, when the ranch was previously listed for $100 million, listing agents Sotheby’s and Hilton & Hyland stated that they would be doing “extensive prequalification” of potential buyers and that they did not plan to give a lot of tours to fans. Of course, Michael Jackson fans have long coveted the Neverland Ranch property, which was once the home of the late music icon’s beloved chimpanzee, Bubbles.

Neverland Ranch was closed to the public, but in 1993, MTV held a contest in which three finalists won a weekend stay at the famous property after making music videos for Jackson’s song, “Who Is It.”

At the time, MTV VJ John Norris documented the trip up to the ranch, which he said was located many miles from the main road.

“Neverland is huge. It’s a ways to get to — you have to go up this long winding road through the mountains. It’s probably a 15-minute drive up from the main road. And there’s no mistaking when you get there because there’s a beautiful ornate gate… Passing through I saw a fort with a bunch of tree houses — you really get the sense you’re entering the grounds of an amusement park. The house is an old Tudor style house with some guest houses…There are probably half a dozen rides. There was one of those big spider-looking things, there was a huge slide and definitely a Ferris wheel. When you’re on the grounds of Neverland, you really get the feeling that he thought of himself as a child. I mean, the damn place is called Neverland.”

Jackson also opened up his famous home to his good friend Elizabeth Taylor, who married her eighth and final husband, Larry Fortensky, on the grounds of the ranch in 1991.

But in a stark contrast to its sweet fantasy world, Neverland Ranch was also at the center of a police investigation when child molestation allegations were made against Jackson. In 1993, a 13-year-old cancer patient alleged that the singer molested him while he was visiting the ranch. The pop superstar was acquitted of the child molestation charges four years before his death, but Neverland Ranch was never the same.

Take a look at the video below for a tour of Neverland Ranch.

[Featured Image by Jason Kirk/Getty Images]